Don't panic, it's not tonight. Every so often we arrange to meet up online and talk rubbish. Not so different from the day-to-day, but with more people. Yes, it sounds naff, but just you wait... it's also oddly satisfying.

great! I am so sick of hearing about spending cuts as according to everyone in every sector - they are as tight as can go and service/quality/safety will greatly deteriorate if cut.. it actually makes me want to curl up and hide under a rock for 20 years with my hands over my ears

Things I just don't get:-why is AK so popular? It seems like so much work. - why does dp think it's ok to sleep on the sofa every night to get out of night wakings?- why can't my children just sleep? Is it really that hard?

Apologies for not hanging up my coat but I've been under a cluster feeding snuffly boy who needed help to stay latch leaving no hands for typing.

I'll rant about the paediatric nurse practitioner who admitted b to the nicu and told me to stop crying because it wasn't helping. She needs to revise her bedside manner. Most of the staff we dealt with were lovely but she's the one I won't forget. I've decided I need to write a letter to help me put it behind me. And the receptionist at my chiropractor who, on hearing about b's first few days, said 'well you'll forget about all that drama soon'. Yes, we're fine and yes, it's over but it's not something I'm ever likely to forget.

My HV is actually ok, but can I have a brief rant about how (IME) the NHS totally fails to support BFing, but can produce a leaflet going on about how Breast is Best just to make all us failed BF-ers feel even more guilty?

PM - writing a letter really helped me. And receiving a letter of grovelling apology was good too

Bananamum wrote:Convenient that that coincides with the tories ideology of small government, isn't it?

Mmmmm, and convenient that Maggie thrashed the unions to within an inch of their lives so the threat of "coordinated action" doesn't really mean much.

Rosie - its too expensive to have MWs or infant feeding specialists sit with women for hours at a time so i leaflet will do instead.... shocking I know. this kind of thing will get worse with more spending cuts. it makes my head hurt.

I'll have a rant about attitudes to fathers. This morning on the radio some female presenter said some celeb was sensitive & showing his feminine side when he said he missed his children when he was away from them for a while NO that would be his fatherly side. Why aren't dads supposed to show their emotions about their children or to their children? & for that to be perpetuated by another woman??? I'm going to make a sweeping assumption & say that I bet she has no children of her own. Hopefully when (if) she does, she will realise that actually dads are just as important parents as mums.

However grass roots politics or whatever it is called mighht help with the community centre and the council not building on our bloomin carpark to find the money.

Bananamum - it sucks doesn't it, we are in Phase 1 or 3. Phase 2 and 3 can only require closure as they cannot thin front line staff anymore (there are still more than enough back room left though.......). Far too much talk of volunteers for my liking.

So somehow it happened, my weaners are at school,I'm still here though and people I'll try to fool,with tales of advice giving and of wanting to knowBut really here's the only place I ever want to go.